Baie-tie buckle



J. E. MORRISON.

BALE TIE BUCKLE:

APPLICATION FILED MAY 24, 1915.

1,314,970. Patented Sept. 2, 1919.

F'il. FT E Z/Z 3 fllllllllllllllllllllllllllu nf" Ewe whoa John Edward Morrwon.

JOHN EDWARD MORRISON, 0F MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE.

BAIJil-Cllilil BUCKLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 2, 1919.

Application filed May 24, 1918. Serial No. 236,424.

tying bales of cotton.

The general type of the buckle to which my improvement relates is what is commonly termed the arrow tie buckle. A serious fault in the construction of the buckle of this type now in common use is that it possesses no means to insure that the tie shall be properly looped around both of the prongs of the buckle andin many cases the entire strain falls upon one side and results in breaking a large proportion of said buckles under such strain. It is found in practice that the loop of the band or tle, in many cases, after being passed through the slot in the lower bar of the buckle, is carelessly or inadvertently allowed to rest upon the prong of the bar over which the loop is first placed and is not slid over so that it engages both prongs to equalize the strain upon both sides of the buckle. My said invention is designed to overcome this fault and to provide a buckle which by its own structure will insure that the band shall be looped about both prongs in every in stance and the strain thus distributed upon both sides of the buckle and the breakage incident to the use of the old style buckle be thus obviated, and this without relying upon the care or skill with which the manipulator does his work.

Referring to the accompanying drawings which are made a part hereof and on which similar reference characters indicate similar parts,

Figure 1 is a plan or face View of a buckle of my improved construction, showing sections of looped bands in place as occupied when the buckle is in use,

Fig. 2, a sectional view on the dotted line 22 in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3, a cross section on the dotted line 3--3 in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4, a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the parts as they appear under strain;

In said drawings the portions marked A represent the body of the buckle, B the end of the band engaging the upper side of the buckle, and C the end of the band engaging the lower side of the buckle.

The said body part A is preferably cast or stamped out of metal of sufficient strength to withstand the strain, such as steel or malleable iron, and is of substantially the form shown most clearly in Fig. 1. It is provided with a transverse slot 10 into which the end B of the band is looped as best shown in Flg. 2, the rear part or extreme end 20 of this band being passed through another slot 23 behind an offset transverse bar 11 formed on the upper end of the buckle, for a purpose to be presently described.

1 Another opening 12 is formed in said plate A, below slot 10, and a vertical slot 13 is formed in the lower bar leading into said opening 12. Said slot 18 is preferably formed with tapered vertical faces so that the slot leads from the outside face of the bar to the inside at an angle as best shown in Fig. 3, and the two prongs 14: and 15 of the bar may thus have their adjacent ends in line, or even slightly overlapped if necessary. The upper edge of prong 1 1 is horizontal and slightly below the upper edge of'prong 15 as indicated in Fig. 1. It is also preferably formed with an angular out-off corner at 30 and face 31 is slightly tapered to bring its surface inside of the surface of the inner face of arm 15 to guard against any catch of the buckle at this point when being put in place.

Prong 15 is formed with an inclined face 16 extending from a short vertical face 17 on the lefthand side of the opening 12 to a point 18, from which point it inclines upwardly slightly to near its extreme point adjacent to the point of prong 14, the pen tion for a distance immediately adjacent to said point being horizontal. The edge 19 on the right hand side of opening 12 is also on an angle, extending in the general direction but at a greater angle than edge 16, as shown,

In use the loop of the end C is passed 8 through the slot 13 until it passes entirely within the opening 12, the right hand edge of the loop passing beyond the point of the prong l t. The left hand edge of the loop then rests upon the inclined edge 16 on the lower left hand side of opening 12 and automatically slides down said incline until the opposite edge of the band comes to the lower right hand corner of said opening 12 which brings the band to rest securely upon both prongs 14: and 15 of the buckle. Because of the edge of prong 14 being slightly below prong 15, and of the dressed ofi' corner 30 and face 31 all possibility of the edge of tie C catching in sliding across the top of slot 13 is obviated and the seating of the loop over both prongs insured in all cases. The end 21 of loop C also rests against a cross bar 22 on the lower end of the buckle similar to the manner in which the end 20 rests against the cross bar 11. It will be understood, of course, that loop B may pass through opening 12 and slot 10 be omitted, if preferred, but I prefer the form shown.

'In actual use the buckles are preferably first placed upon'the ends B of the'metal ties, the tie being looped and the end 20 being threaded through the slots 10 and 23' back to the cross bar 11. The opposite end of the tie O is threaded through the channels in the platens and brought around the bale of cotton and the loop in end C formed at the proper point by the man manipulating the tie. The loop is then passed edgewi'se through the slot 13 until entirely within the. opening 12 of the plate A as above described, the end 21 resting against the cross bar 22 as shown in Fig. 2. The

" loop readily slides to place as shown in Fig.

1. The compress being open, the expansion of the bale of cotton draws the ties taut and secures the bale in the usual manner. By reason of the peculiar construction of the lower bar composed of the prongs 14 and 15 and the edges of the bars surrounding the opening 12, the loop of the tie is so guided as to insure its firm engagement with both prongs of the buckle and under normal conditions the expansion of the bale will so bind the parts 20 and 21 around the bars of the buckle as to insure them against any clipping. There are, however, some bales known in the trade as book bales where in the process of compressing one side of the bale is formed slightly concave or hollow while the other or opposite side 'isrounded. In such cases the ends 20 and 21 coming against the concave or hollow side of the bale are not held as closely around the upper and lower bars of the buckle as required for security and they will slip until they may eventually free themselves from connection with the buckle, thus destroying the binding character of the tie. In such cases the bars 11 and 22 are essential but in normal bales the buckles may be used without such bars and I desire it to be understood that my invention is not confined to buckles having such cross bars but to consist broadly of a buckle having the peculiar construction of slot 13 and parts surrounding the opening 12 in body A whether in connection with the bars 11 and 22 or not. It will be noted that the connections for the two ends B and G with knuckle A are slightly out of line when in normal position in use. This causes a slight angular tilting of the buckle under strain, as indicated in Fig. a, still further insuring that loop of end 0 shall firmly rest on prong 14 and both sides of the buckle bear the strain proportionately.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A buckle for cotton ties formed with an opening adapted to receive the loops of the two ends of the tie, a vertical slot being cut through one side of the buckle on an angle dividing one bar of the buckle into two parts with ends closely adjacent, the inner edge of one of said parts being slightly below the adjacent inner edge of said other part and the edge of the part on which the loop is normally received being inclined from the normal bearing in an upward direction toward the side of the buckle, substantially as set forth.

2. A buckle for bale ties comprising a metal plate formed with an opennig adapted to receive the looped opposite ends of a tie, one bar of the buckle being formed with a slot extending at an angle therethrough separating said bar into two prongs projecting toward each other from the sides of the buckle, one of said prongs being relatively longer than the other and formed with the upper edge, a portion of which is substantially horizontal to form a bearing edge for the loop and the portion extending from said horizontal portion to the side of the buckle being inclined to serve as a a tie, one bar of said buckle being slotted to one side of its center to divide said bar into a comparatively long and short prong and provide a passage for the loop in an edgewise direction and the opening being of sufficient width to permit said tie to pass completely within said opening through the said slot and the portion of the inner edge of the long prong of said bar being inclined to form a slide and a guide to insure the seating of said buckle upon both prongs of said bar, substantially as set forth.

4:. A buckle for bale ties adapted to receive the loops of the ends of the tie, one side of the buckle being formed with a slot to receive one loop edgewise, the edge of the side on which said loop normally rests in use being formed with an inclined part to direct the loop to slide across said slot to rest upon the bar on both sides of said of Columbia, this twenty-first day of May, slot and the bar on the other side of the A. D. nineteen hundred and eighteen. slot being formed lower to permit free slid ing across said slot, substantially as set JOHN EDWARD MORRISON 5 forth. Witnesses:

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set E. W. BRADFORD, my hand and seal at Washington, District HALLIE DYOTT.

flopies of this iatent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I) C. 

